Last-minute provision on abortion added to budget

Jun. 26, 2013

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COLUMBUS — Doctors would be required to determine whether a fetus has a heartbeat before an abortion, likely through an abdominal ultrasound, in a last-minute change to Ohio’s final two-year spending plan revealed Tuesday.

After months of debate and proposals, top Republican lawmakers revealed final changes to the two-year budget set to take effect Monday, including a package of income tax cuts and increases in sales and future property taxes unveiled last week.

But the abdominal ultrasound requirement had not appeared in any prior versions of the budget. A Statehouse room of lobbyists, lawmakers and journalists fell silent as a legal staffer explained the new budget provision – which would require a physician to inform a woman of the fetal heartbeat.

“Where is this amendment coming from?” asked Sen. Tom Sawyer, D-Akron, complaining that lawmakers were passing the ultrasound requirement without having a hearing.

The budget also includes other anti-abortion provisions, which abortion-rights advocates had staunchly opposed in public hearings.

Other late changes to the budget included small increases in funding for economically disadvantaged schools, which are often in urban and rural areas, in exchange for small decreases to better-off schools, which are often in the suburbs. The effects on each district were expected to be available today.

The conference committee of four Republicans and two Democrats from the House and Senate were voting on amendments to the final version of the state’s two-year budget that would take effect Monday. The House and Senate are then expected to pass the budget by late Thursday, giving Gov. John Kasich three days to make any line-item vetoes and sign the budget by his deadline of 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

Republicans make up 60 percent of the House and 70 percent of the Senate, so the final budget generally mirrors their priorities. For instance, party leaders on Thursday released a substantially revised tax plan that would cut income taxes by 10 percent for all Ohioans over the next three years and allow business owners to pay taxes on only half of their first $250,000 in income.

The budget would pay for those cuts in part through changes that include an increase in the state sales tax, from 5.5 percent to 5.75 percent, and by eliminating an old and little-known provision through which the state pays 12.5 percent of every Ohioan’s property tax. The property tax increase would take effect on any new or increased levies and is not expected to save the state money in its first year, said Tim Keen, director of the Office of Budget and Management.

In addition, a $25,000 exemption on property taxes for senior citizens would also continue as-is for those who already receive it, but new seniors would start to receive the exemption only if their income is less than $30,000.

Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney, D-North Avondale, told The Enquirer measures such as increasing the sales tax put an unfair burden on people with lower incomes, who can’t afford to pay more for items they need. On the other hand, he said, income tax cuts benefit richer Ohioans, who would save more money through income tax cuts.

“This is a radical change in Ohio tax policy,” Kearney said.

But Keen said budget provisions such as a nonrefundable earned-income tax credit and the property tax exemption for low-income seniors show the state is trying to consider low-income Ohioans in the tax policy.

“Less than 2 percent of Ohioans will pay more income taxes under this proposal than they currently do,” he said.

The changes came so late in the process that the public didn’t have enough time to give input, Kearney said. House and Senate committees had hearings on the budget provisions, but changes were unlikely due to the looming Sunday deadline. In addition, the GOP’s majority in the House and Senate allowed them to exclude Democrats from their week of negotiations on the final budget, he said.

“The budget is 6,000 pages,” Kearney said. “I would probably have 6,000 ideas along with my caucus, but we haven’t been included.”

Last-minute tax changes to the budget’s tax plan comprised:

• Restoration of the $20 personal exemption for people who make less than $30,000. Last week’s proposal had eliminated this exemption.

• An affirmation of a tax credit for people who make $10,000 or less. Last week’s GOP tax proposal had eliminated this credit.

• The 0.26 percent Commercial Activity Tax on companies’ sales within Ohio would phase in for businesses with less than $4 million in revenue. Companies that with less than $150,000 in sales would pay no tax; companies with less than $1 million would pay a maximum of $150; companies with up to $2 million would pay a maximum of $800; and companies with up to $4 million would pay a maximum of $2,100. ■

I watch state government to look out for the interests of Southwest Ohioans. Email me at cthompson@enquirer.com.